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The possibility of transmitting signals from one point to another by electrical impulses without a connecting wire had attracted attention since the early days of telegraphy, and the Post Office, among others, conducted experiments in this field. In 1896, the Post Office (through its Engineer-in-Chief, Sir William Preece) provided facilities for Guglielmo Marconi to conduct experiments in the field of wireless telegraphy by means of hertzian waves.

Marconi gave the first demonstration of his new system of wireless telegraphy before members of the Post Office administration on 27 July 1896. With the transmitter on the roof of the Central Telegraph Office in Newgate Street, London, and the receiver on the roof of GPO South in Carter Lane, 300 yards away, signals from the transmitter were satisfactorily recorded. In August, the Post Office permitted Marconi to experiment with wireless equipment on Salisbury plain and elsewhere. The ensuing trials demonstrated the practicality of his system.

The following year Marconi was granted a British patent for his system by which "electrical actions or manifestations are transmitted through the air, earth or water by means of electric oscillations of high frequency". In July of the same year, Marconi parted company with the Post Office and, with other backers, set up the Marconi Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company.

In order to secure the control of wireless telegraphy, the Wireless Telegraph Act was passed in 1904 rendering it illegal for persons to install or work apparatus without a licence from the Postmaster General. In 1918, the Wireless Telegraphy Board was set up to coordinate interference problems in radio communication in the English Channel. The interests of users of radio other than Government departments were represented by the Post Office.

In 1924, the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company entered into an agreement with the British Government for the provision of radio stations to set up an Imperial Wireless Chain in England, Australia, Canada, India and South Africa. From 1929 electrical communications across the Empire were overseen by the Imperial Communications Advisory Committee, on which the Post Office was represented.

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Inland mails organisation: the Inland Office and the Circulation Department

A separate domestic postal service originated early in the 17th century when a split developed from the foreign service. By the 1670s the General Letter Office in London comprised an Inland Office, with 43 staff, and a Foreign Office, with only four staff. By the end of the decade they were both housed in Lombard Street, as two distinct services with separate staff, although there was a considerable overlapping of work. By the end of the century the staff of the Inland Office greatly increased and the department brought in two-thirds of the GPO's profits. (The staff of the Foreign Office increased to a lesser extent). The Inland Office was managed by a Comptroller and Accomptant and staffed by cashiers, clerks of the roads, an alphabet man, window men, sorters and letter carriers and receivers. By the middle of the 18th century the Inland Office also had a Deputy Comptroller and the outdoor service accounted for most of the staff.

In the early 19th century three overlapping services existed; the Inland Office, Foreign Office and Twopenny Post Office, each with separate staffs. The Inland Office had general charge of the whole postal system for the British Isles, including the mail coaches to and from London. Its staff consisted of a Superintending President, presidents, vice presidents, clerks of the roads, sorters and letter carriers for London. The Foreign Office dealt with mails going to and coming from foreign countries. There was a separate Ship Letter Office and Dead Letter Office. The Bye and Cross Road Letter Office had been absorbed into the Inland Office by this time, (see below).

In 1829 a new central office opened in St Martin's le Grand, to house the General or Inland Office, Foreign Office and Twopenny Post Office. All had distinct letter carriers and their own receiving houses. Foreign Office letter carriers were abolished in the early 1830s. In 1844 the Twopenny Post Office was renamed the London District Post Office.

In the mid-19th century there occurred a gradual amalgamation of all divisions connected with circulation of mail. On 6 April 1840 the Foreign Office was consolidated with the Inland Office and in July 1849 the Ship Letter staff were placed on the Inland Office establishment. By 1850 the Inland Office and London District Post Office were the two departments directly engaged in mail circulation - collecting, sorting, delivering and charging the letters and newspapers in London and its immediate neighbourhood, and in despatching mail to all quarters. The Inland Office was charged with the despatch of mails from London to the provinces or to foreign parts and with the delivery in London of letters received from the country or from abroad. The London District Office was charged with similar duties in respect of the correspondence carried on within London itself and a district around it of 24 miles in diameter, and, sometimes, with the delivery of letters from the Inland Office. This arrangement and duplication of duties meant there was a wastage of manpower. In 1854 proposals were put forward to unite them under one superintendent and consolidate the Dead Letter Office within them. The establishment of the Circulation Department was authorised by the Postmaster General in October 1854. The Circulation Department was managed by a Controller, assisted by a vice controller, and a number of deputies. Below them was a body of clerks and then the sorters and letter carriers. Arrangements for the operation of the new Circulation Department gradually came into force over the next few years.

By 1870 the Circulation Department comprised various branches including the Surveyor and Controllers Office, the Inland, Newspaper, TPO, Foreign and Registered Letter branches, East Central Office and Lombard Street branch.

Bye and Cross Roads Office

In 1660 there were 6 main post roads - North Road to Edinburgh; West Road to Plymouth; Chester or Holyhead Road, Roads to Bristol, Dover and Norwich. Other places were served by branch posts working out of the main roads. Letters between intermediate towns on the main roads were carried by bye-posts. There were no cross posts connecting places on different main roads; the post had to pass through London which caused much delay. By the end of the 17th century a number of cross posts, which did not pass through London, had been established, beginning with a direct post between Bristol and Exeter. The Act of 1711 legalised the cross posts.

In 1720 Ralph Allen was given the contract to farm the Bye and Cross Road posts. He continued in that role for 44 years, until his death, making many important reforms and improvements in the conveyance of letters. Under Ralph Allen the Bye and Cross Road Letter Office was a completely separate part of the postal service. When he died in 1764 it came under the management of the GPO and the Postmasters General. It was governed by a Comptroller, Philip Allan (Ralph Allan's nephew), appointed in 1764. The Office was transferred from Bath to London and housed separately from the Inland Office as a fourth distinctive branch of the GPO - beside the Inland, Foreign and Penny Post offices. Philip Allan managed the Office until his death in the early 1780s when John Staunton took over. The Bye and Cross Road Letter Office became known as the Bye Letter Office by 1788 and remained a separate department for some time until it became essentially a branch of the Inland Office towards the end of the 18th century. By then its distinctiveness had largely ceased, as the network of routes made the difference between a country letter and a by letter and a cross road letter largely meaningless. The office of Comptroller was also abolished toward the end of the century.

London Penny Post, Twopenny Post and London District Post

In 1680 William Dockwra, a London merchant, set up a London Penny Post. It was stopped by the Duke of York in the Courts for infringement of State monopoly and taken over by the Postmaster General in 1682, administered separately from the 'General Post'. This official penny post was also known as the London District Post. The Act of 1711 legalised the London Penny Post. An Act of 1801 abolished the London Penny Post, after an existence of 120 years, and replaced it by what became known as the Twopenny Post (still relating to London and its environs only). In 1805 the limits of the Twopenny Post were restricted to the General Post delivery and letters crossing these bounds became a Threepenny Post. (In 1839 it became a penny post again). In 1844 the Twopenny Post Office became officially known as the London District Post Office. This was amalgamated with the Inland Office and Dead Letter Office in 1854, to form the Circulation Department.

Dead and Returned Letters

The Dead Letter Office was established in London in 1784 to deal with dead and missent letters, when the addressee could not be found. Similar offices in Edinburgh and Dublin opened shortly after. Each was headed by an Inspector. In 1813 a Returned Letter Office was organised to return undelivered letters to writers and collect the postage due. Prior to 1813 the only letters returned were those supposed to contain money or items important enough to escape destruction. During the 19th century the department for dealing with undelivered and returned letters was variously named the Dead Letter Office, Dead and Returned Letter Office and Returned Letter Office. The latter title became gradually more favoured as it prevented any confusion by the public with dead persons and sounded less gruesome. In 1854 it became a branch of the newly formed Circulation Department. By the early 20th century the work of headquarters offices was devolved to separate Returned Letter Offices set up in major towns in Britain.

Mid-19th century revision of rural posts in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland

Although the French had set up the 'poste rurale' in the 1830s, until the mid-19th century the British Post Office was cautious in setting up deliveries in rural districts, only doing so when more than 100 letters a week were received in the village. A major expansion of rural posts throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland took place during the 1850s, under the auspices of Rowland Hill. Appointed secretary to the Postmaster General in 1846 and sole Secretary in 1854, Hill favoured the extension of deliveries to rural districts partly as a means of boosting the gross revenue. Surveyors were already setting up new postal deliveries where conditions justified. Under the revision plan some 700 new posts were set up by 1850, for delivering over 7,500,000 letters a year. A general revision that was begun in 1851 was pretty well complete by 1858. Many revisions of the 1850s included the introduction or enlargement of the free delivery boundary in rural post districts. By 1859 about 93% of mails were delivered free of charge by letter carriers to the houses of the addressees.

One of the most active and enthusiastic workers for these extensions was Surveyor Anthony Trollope, who wanted deliveries where most people were found in a rural district, not where the most influential people lived, and worked to do away with the rural letter carrier's practice of charging for letters delivered. Trollope surveyed of much of Ireland and all of south western England including the Channel Islands. Reports by Trollope can be found in case files POST 14/35, 40, 209, 213, 217, 218, 220 and 221.

The three series on rural revisions in POST 14 provide a detailed record of those changes, covering the establishment, expansion, alteration, preclusion and cessation of postal services and facilities. They also form a comprehensive guide to the rural posts existing in the mid-19th century, including collections, deliveries, routes, sub-offices, receiving houses, posting boxes, sorting offices, letter carriers, letter receivers, sub postmasters, modes of conveyance, facilities, equipment, salaries and allowances.

Rural posts were organised in rural districts under town post offices classified as 'post towns'. All rural routes were served by the post town and its branch or sub-offices. Each town post office, managed by a deputy postmaster, belonged to a national District. Each District was administered by a District Surveyor who reported to the Secretary. The Secretary reported to the Postmaster General. This administrative structure is reflected in the three series on rural post revision.

There were two types of revision: a 'general' revision of the rural posts under one town; or minor alterations to a rural post, often initiated by a petition from the local inhabitants. Decisions were, in practice, mainly made by the Secretary, who submitted them to the Postmaster General for formal sanction. Proposals were normally only rejected if the volume of letters was insufficient to warrant the resources, the Post Office favoured an alternative reform, a minority of local inhabitants desired the alteration, or a guarantee bond was not provided.

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A number of major changes took place during the period covered by this series. From 1 April 1922, Post Office services in Southern Ireland were transferred to the control of the provisional Irish Government. The growth in administration meant that aspects of work relating only to matters of local interest were devolved from central headquarters to district surveyors. In 1934 as part of a general reorganisation of the Post Office, a Director General was appointed to replace the office of Secretary to The Post Office. At the same time a Post Office Board was created under the chairmanship of the Postmaster General. Further changes in 1934 led to the replacement of district surveyors by regional directors, who were given full powers of day-to-day control of local postal and telecommunications affairs in their regions. This reorganisation was complete by the mid-1940s, with an increasing amount of work concerning local affairs being devolved from Headquarters, leaving it to deal only with matters of general policy and those outside the scope of regional authority.

The system of 'minuting' papers submitted to the Postmaster General by the Secretary to the Post Office for a decision (ie numbering the papers, and separately copying a note of the paper as a 'minute' into volumes indexed by subject) was introduced in 1793. It remained in use by the Post Office Headquarters registry until 1973.

Until 1921, several different major minute series were in use: that concerned with the Packet Service (POST 29), and those concerned with England and Wales (POST 30), Ireland (POST 31) and Scotland (POST 32). From 1790 until 1841, parallel 'Report' series were in use by the Secretary (POST 39 and POST 40)

In 1921, the several different minute series were replaced by a single all-embracing series (POST 33). This was suspended in 1941 as a wartime measure when a Decimal Filing system came into use (POST 102), but was resurrected in 1949. In 1955 the registration of Headquarters files began to be decentralised under several local registries serving particular departments, although the 'minuting' of cases considered worthy of preservation, and the assimilation of later cases with earlier existing minuted bundles, continued until 1973.

For further details of how this class relates to the other report and minute classes, see the following section 'Related Material'.

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The word 'Establishment' has a number of meanings in the present context. In historical writing about the Post Office, the word is variously used to describe: the Post Office structure as a whole; all Post Office salaried staff; all staff employed in senior positions; and the various buildings and branches themselves, or 'establishments'. However, for the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the word is predominantly used to distinguish between staff that were employed directly by the Post Office, enjoying a yearly salary, benefits and a pension, and those who, though working for the Post Office in some capacity, did not. Discussing this period, one postal historian argues that… 'a firm line was drawn between those who were part of the privileged and protected core 'on the establishment' and the part-time or temporary staff who were denied the benefits and security. Moreover, the established staff were located in a hierarchy which offered advancement and promotion; the Post Office offered not only a job but also the prospect of a career' (Martin Daunton Royal Mail: The Post Office since 1840 (London: Athlone Press, 1985), p. 248). Indeed the benefits of being 'on the establishment' would usually include a retirement age of 60, a pension (after the 1859 Superannuation Act), some paid holiday, and even limited healthcare. As Daunton has noted, in terms of the benefits enjoyed by established staff, the Post Office remained preferable to private employment until the establishment of the welfare state after 1945.

Unestablished staff, particularly in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, remained numerous for a number of reasons. Working for the Post Office has had a longstanding reputation for being 'unsocial work'; that is, the peaks of postal traffic have tended to be in the early morning and early evening. For this reason, there has always been a high demand for part-time workers and in the modern era the Post Office has consequently employed a large proportion of staff who did not find their way onto the Establishment books. Likewise, Sub-Postmasters have often run other businesses from the same premises as a local Post Office branch and were therefore not part of the established staff. It will already be clear that owing to the many changes that have occurred over the centuries and because of the different types of Establishment records that have been generated over this time, neatly defining 'Establishment staff' is problematic. The remaining discussion will illuminate the structure of this class of records by briefly considering the chronology of the emergence of the different sorts of Establishment books within the context of the broader developments of British postal history.

The first Establishment book was produced in 1691. King Charles I had inaugurated an embryonic state postal service in 1635, and having survived the upheavals of the English Civil War, it had gained more of an organisational capacity by the end of that century with the establishment of state control of the London Penny Post, although there are still just 20 established officers named in this record of the early Post Office staff. There were a similarly small number listed in Queen Anne's Establishment book of 1702, in which the Post Office Establishment was one of a number of state Offices and Departments detailed. By 1747, Establishment books began to look a little more like later publications, with staff details of office, title, name, and salary per annum, for the London, Dublin and Edinburgh Establishments, the London Penny Post and details of the Packet Boat service. As the composition of the Post Office structure gradually evolved, new information was recorded in the books. For instance, Branch Commissioners and Postmasters' salaries were included from 1760; the Secretary's Office, Receiver General's Office, Accountant General's Office, Inland Office, tradesmen, pensions, rents and taxes from 1769; and more significant reforms, such as those of 1783, warranted specific descriptive attention in the Establishment books (see POST 59/19, which records revision proposals for the Establishment, its staff and new pay proposals and comparisons).

From 1785, mail coaches were used to convey letters and parcels across Britain and over the next two decades Post Office net revenue increased from £150,000 to £700,000 per annum. The Establishment book for 1792 (POST 59/22) lists establishment developments since the introduction of mail coaches and thereafter an increased number of Deputy Postmasters of provincial towns are listed. Indeed, from 1800 on, a number of reforms and the steady growth of services precipitated the publishing of further types of Establishment books, such as those found in Sub-Series 3 of this class: 'Establishment books and lists of the London Postal Service'. Within these records, an evolution of the organisational structure of a city's postal operations can be traced, from the London Penny Post, which soon became the Twopenny Post, to the introduction of postal regions, to the twentieth century infrastructural advancements such as the Post Office (London) Railway, or 'Mail Rail'. Throughout, this Sub-series of Establishment books detail the various departments, salaries, positions and lists many of the established staff by name.

By the 1800s, the yearly Establishment books recorded a greater volume and variety of information of this sort, in keeping with the concomitant enlargement of Britain's postal processes that occurred in the years and decades that followed the introduction of the mail coach system at the end of the eighteenth century. For instance, the Establishment book for 1832 (POST 59/37) provides details of when an individual was appointed, their name, how much they were paid on the Establishment, the total amount paid, and a narrative account of duties undertaken. Details cover the Board, Secretary's Office, Mail Coach Office, Surveyors' Office, Solicitor's Office, Receiver General's Office, Accountant General's Office, Dead Letter Office, Foreign Office, Inland Office, mail guards, packet agents, post towns in England, and the ships, captains, tons, engines, staff and rate of passage of packet stations. Also included is a report on the way in which mail coaches were supplied and repaired, rules and regulations of horse post contracts, copies of circulars to surveyors, marine mail guard instructions, statements of regulations in operation respecting the whole process of the collection of Post Office revenue, and an abstract of comparative statements of gross revenue at post towns in England 1833-1834.

In many ways, the organisational unfurling of a modern Post Office came after the major reforms initiated by Rowland Hill in the 1840s. The changes brought in by Hill included the introduction of a national Penny Post in which the recipient of a letter or parcel no longer paid for the service. Rather, the sender affixed a pre-paid adhesive stamp, the Penny Black. The subsequent growth in postal services was tremendous and this caused many changes to the quantity and character of Establishment books and Establishment records. POST 59/177 'Report Upon The Post Office' describes the structure of the organisation as it stood in 1854, commenting that 'The Establishment of the Post Office necessarily extends over the kingdom, and indeed all over the British possessions [abroad]…Its Head-quarters are in London; there are Metropolitan Offices in Edinburgh and Dublin; and there are District Offices in every town and almost every village, throughout the country' (p.3). Between 1860 and 1880, the number of full-time (Established) staff rose from 25,192 to 46,956 and whilst in 1890 the total number of full-time and part-time staff stood at 113,541, this had risen to 234,008 in 1920 (Daunton, pp. 195-196).

Naturally, accompanying this growth in staff was a growth in the numbers of physical Post Office Establishments. There were 4,028 in 1840 and 24,354 in 1913 (Daunton, p. 276). The Establishment books in Sub-series 3 'Provincial Establishment books' furnish details for many of the provincial districts within which such branches were located. For instance, POST 59/412-424 offers the particulars for offices in Worcester for the years 1874-1964, providing a wide assortment of details regarding postmen, assistant postmen, messengers and telegraphists, as well as basic information on sub-offices and the pay, pensions and other details of their personnel. The information that can be gathered from these records varies from establishment to establishment and over time, but these are useful resources for garnering facts and figures for many provincial postal areas, particularly for the first half of the twentieth century.

A number of further developments occurred from the late nineteenth century into the mid-twentieth century that affected the way these records were kept and consequently what one can expect to find. These include the acquisition of telegraph and telephone systems, the expansion of the work of the Post Office Engineering Department, the introduction of insurance and banking services and much more. Indeed, in the main Establishment book for 1931 (POST 59/163), the details contained are divided across 17 categories:

Postmaster General and Secretaries; Accountant General's Department; Central Telegraph Office; Engineering Department; London Postal Service; London Telephone Service; Medical Department (London); Money Order Department; Solicitor's Office (London); Stores Department; Surveyor's Department; Postmaster Surveys; Provincial Telephone Staff; Head Postmasters; Assistant Postmasters and Chief Superintendents; and Sub-office Postmasters.

To give some idea of the kind of information held in Establishment books by this time, consider the front page to the section entitled 'Savings Bank Department' in the above-mentioned 1931 Establishment book (p.156). Here, a summary of all male staff in the department can be found (at this time, the information for each department was split into male and female categories) and it can be learnt what wages were being paid to doorkeepers, liftmen, boy messengers, cleaners, foremen and even department firemen (between 30-45 shillings per week), as well as how many of each were employed. It is also stated that the department contained 600 clerks who were paid between £60-£250 per annum. At the top of the page, the numbers and wages of senior staff - from higher-grade clerks right up to the department controller - are listed and on the pages that follow this summary, all of these 306 senior staff members are listed individually. For each of these entries, the details given are date of birth, dates of appointments (listing previous positions held), name and salary. This format of presenting information is roughly followed for the other departments represented in the 1931 Establishment book, with some exceptions. For instance, the passage detailing provincial Establishments lists postal districts in alphabetical order, and provides the numbers of staff for each. This information is presented in table format and is divided into indoor / outdoor staff; male / female staff; and finally into job types such as sorting clerks, telegraphists, postmen and superintendents. For example, on p. 277 it states that there were 529 sorting clerks and 1430 postmen in the Liverpool postal district, amongst a range of other staff figures.

Finally, although this became the dominant format for the main Establishment books that continued to be published annually throughout much of the remaining century, a number of changes occurred after 1969, when the Post Office ceased to be a department of state and became a nationalised industry. From this time, including the subsequent part-privatisation of the business in later decades, the books became known as 'Lists of the Principal Officers in the Post Office'. These publications ceased to provide details of pay, but continued to list senior staff, their dates of birth and their various appointments within the Post Office, by department and also in an alphabetical index at the back of each book.

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The Post Office Welfare Service was formally established in 1947 to provide help and support to employees and pensioners. It was originally introduced to assist employees in managing their problems, with professional welfare officers on hand in all major towns throughout the United Kingdom to offer advice and guidance. The Welfare Service was to provide confidential counselling and advice and practical help on matters such as bereavement, financial distress, accommodation issues, family and relationship problems, and alcohol and drug abuse.

From 1972 the Post Office has also had an Occupational Health Service to deal with employee health issues. Led by the Chief Medical Officer, each Postal Region was given its own Regional Medical Officer and a team of doctors and nurses providing services to all levels of staff. Its focus was to be on the prevention of health issues rather than the treatment of them. The Occupational Health Service was initially established for the Post Office and British Telecom. However, following the establishment of British Telecom as a separate corporation, the Post Office set up a new service in 1981.

In 1988 the Occupational Health Service merged with Employee Support to form the Post Office's Employee Health Service. The aim of this service was to provide for the physical, social and psychological well-being of employees. The Employee Health Service currently provides advice on sickness absence and employee health management, medico-legal issues, first aid, and social well-being. It also undertakes employment assessments, health screenings, health consultancy and health and well-being education.

There are also councils, societies and associations for postal workers set up to focus on staff welfare. These include the Post Office Recreation Council, Post Office Relief Fund, Benenden Healthcare Society, P&T Leisure Centres, and the Rowland Hill Benevolent Fund.

Recreational activities have also been an important part of staff welfare and many local sports and social clubs have been formed by employees throughout the postal service. They include sports such as golf, bowling, football, cricket and rowing and hobbies such as drama, photography and art. Some examples of these clubs are The Mount Pleasant Sports and Social Club, the London Postal Service Horticultural Associaton, the Eastern Postal Sports and Social Club, and the Post Office Art Club.

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There have been many staff associations, unions and representative bodies acting on behalf of the large numbers of staff employed by the Post Office in the modern era. Staff associations became increasingly prominent in the twentieth century. The Union of Post Office Workers (UPW) has had the largest membership and has been involved in all of the major wage negotiations since its inception in 1919. In 1980 it became the Union of Communication Workers (UCW) and in 1995 it merged with the National Communications Union to form the Communication Workers' Union (CWU). In 2005 it had a membership exceeding 250,000, comprising men and women working for the Post Office, British Telecom and other telephone and communication companies.

Post Office Staff Associations have their origins in the nineteenth century. The first efforts to improve staff conditions occurred in a number of meetings held in secret in and around St Martin's le Grand in the 1840s. A 'confederacy' was formed protesting against low pay and extra duties, with the support of some societies, clergymen and journalists. In the 1850s, similar small groups of Post Office employees joined with Lord's Day Societies and gained temporary successes in abandoning Sunday work. A small 'London Committee' concerned with the interests of letter carriers remained active through the 1860s and even met with Postmaster Generals a number of times, although the leaders of those agitating for increased pay were often sacked. The following decade saw the entry of telegraphists into Post Office employ and these were amongst the first to strike in 1871, and despite increased organisational endeavours, including William Booth's best efforts on behalf of the letter carriers, all efforts at creating a formal union failed. This was finally achieved with the creation of the Postal Telegraph Clerks Association in 1881, following a significant reorganisation of grades and negotiations with Postmaster General Henry Fawcett. In the final 20 years of the nineteenth century, there was a ferment of proto-union organisation across the Post Office workforce. This included the founding of the United Kingdom Postal Clerks Association in 1887 by provincial Post Office clerks; the Postmen's Union in 1889; and the Fawcett Association comprised of London sorters in 1890. Although the major pay claims were unsuccessful, the right to meet in public was secured over this period, the Fawcett Association gained their first full time representative officials in 1892 (albeit against its will) and the first large scale strike occurred in 1890. By the turn of the century, every Post Office grade had gained a representative association.

From this time until the outbreak of the First World War there were a number of large-scale public enquiries into the grievances of Post Office employees. Arguing the case of the lower grade workforce was the National Joint Committee (also known as the Amalgamated Postal Federation), which was the precursor in loosely uniting the disparate associations to the post-war amalgamation into the UPW. There were five main hearings that were respectively overseen by Tweedmouth (1895-7); Bradford (1904); Hobhouse (1907-8); Holt (1912-13); and Gibb (1914). In the first of these inquiries, the improvements gained were widely deemed to be inadequate and precipitated militancy, especially from many telegraphists. By the time of the Hobhouse inquiry, the union associates were recognised for the purposes of negotiation and a more thoroughgoing representation of Post Office employees was secured by the time of the Gibb inquiry. By this time the British labour movement had become heavily unionised and the period 1912-14 was one of acute industrial unrest on a broad scale and many concessions were gained during the Holt inquiry, including a more equitable system of 'differential' wages, where the level of pay varied according to region.

In 1919, the 44 representative associations of various workers employed by the Post Office were amalgamated into the UPW. These associations had represented the workers of four main grades: manipulative (those who handled mail and the like), supervisory, clerical and other. The following is a list of these associations:

There were 17 associations for manipulative grades: Postmen's Federation; Postal Telegraph Clerk's Association; Amalgamated Society of Telephone Employees; UK Postal Clerk's Association; Fawcett Association; Engineering and Stores Association; Irish Post Office Clerks; London Postal Porter's Association; Central London Postmen's Association; Women Sorters Association; Sorter-Tracers Association; Registry Assistants, Second Class Assistants; Tube Staff Association; Postal Bagmen's Association; PO Telegraph Mechanicians Society; Tracers Association; Messengers Association.

There were 14 associations for supervisory grades: Postal Telegraph and Telephone Controlling Association; London Postal Superintending Officers Association; Society of Post Office Engineers; Association of National Telephone Engineers; Central London Male Supervisors Association; London Association of Head Postmen; Society of PO Engineering Inspectors; Assistant Head Postmen's Association; Head Porters Association; Association of PO Superintendents; Second Class Assistant Inspectors and Telegraph Messengers; Telephone Exchange Managers Association; Association of Inspectors of Messengers; Association of Inspectors of Tracing.

There were 9 associations for clerical grades: Women Clerk's Association; General Association of Third Class Clerks; PO Engineering Clerks Association; London Postal Clerks Association; Association of Third Class Clerks (Surveyors); Representative Committee of Metropolitan Third Class Clerks; London Telephone Service Association; Engineer-in-Chief's Office Supplementary Clerk's Association; First and Second Class Clerks (Provinces) Association.

There were 4 associations for other grades: National Federation of Sub-Postmasters; PO Medical Officers Association; Head Postmasters Association; Established Sub-Postmasters Association.

In addition to these associations, which were poorly funded and mostly run by Post Office employees in their spare time, there were numerous clubs and guilds such as the Post Office Socialist League and sports and debating societies, which produced a wide range of literature and would have their successor Post Office social clubs through the twentieth century.

The amalgamated UPW was set up at the time when the government introduced the Whitley Councils, in 1919. The Whitley system dominated inter-war wage bargaining for the civil service as a whole and arguments presented for increased pay tended to be based on demands for a wage sufficient to cover the cost of living, and that was comparable with wages in the private sector and was thus guided by the market value of pay. Here, successive governments were cornered into having to 'set an example' in the formulation of reasonable wage schemes, especially following the economic downturns of the early 1920s and 1930s. During this period, and despite having little involvement in the general strike of 1926, the UPW became subject to the 1927 Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act, which prohibited civil servants from joining unions affiliated to the Trade Union Congress. This state-enforced ban on trade union collusion in pursuing joint industrial interests circumscribed the effectiveness of the UPW until the end of the Second World War when this legislation was overturned.

From the amalgamation into the UPW in 1919 and for much of the remaining century, the organisational history of Post Office Associations and of staff representation in general concerns secessionist groups and the difficulties of keeping the UPW unified in its industrial negotiations. Because the amalgamated UPW acted on behalf of a qualitative and quantitative variety of job types, special interest groups composed along similar lines to the pre-amalgamated associations continued to exist, breaking away from the UPW and competing for their respective and often conflicting interests. This is a theme that Alan Clinton has emphasised in his comprehensive study 'The Post Office Workforce: A Trade Union and Social History' (London: Allen & Unwin, 1984). The secessionist groups with the largest membership in the inter-war period were the Guild of Postal Sorters; The Association of Counter Clerks; The Guild of Sorting Clerks and Telegraphists (SC&Ts); and the National Association of Postmen. Smaller groups included the Government and Overseas Cable and Wireless Operators Association and the Northern Ireland Postal Clerks Association.

Likewise, the secessionist organisations and representative bodies distinct from the UPW that dominated the post-war era were the National Guild of Telephonists; National Association of Postal and Telegraph Officers; Engineering Officers (Telecommunications) Association; Clerical and Administrative Workers Union; Civil Service Clerical Association; and after 1972, the Association of Professional Executive Clerical and Computer Staff.

The political and economic environment of the immediate post-war period was changed in that a Labour Government committed to full employment and an enlarged civil service gave the UPW more bargaining leverage and although gradual, significant improvements in pay and conditions were secured through the 1950s, as the UPW General Secretary Ron Smith argued in 1961. The Conservative dominated 1960s saw a more concerted effort to keep wage levels down and this precipitated a spate of negotiation and arbitration between the UPW and the government. The initial wage increases were too modest for many, leading to strikes in 1964, but a national all-out official strike was avoided when a more substantial pay increase was achieved later that year. In 1965, Tom Jackson became the UPW General Secretary and the following years were turbulent times for the UPW with protracted negotiations over capital and labour, instances of industrial action, particularly in 1968, culminating in the largest strike in the history of the Post Office: a six-and-a-half week national strike of all UPW members in January and February 1971. The UPW failed to gain the wage demands it had made in October the previous year when its members voted 14-1 to end the strike. The whole affair is estimated to have cost the Post Office £25 million in lost revenue. Clinton has argued that the strike had long term consequences for the UPW and Post Office wage bargaining, coming as it did at the beginning of a period in which the Post Office ceased to be a government department and in which it was stripped of its telecommunications functions (this was privatised under BT in 1984), along with the more recent restructuring that has included the more general amalgamation of Post Office Associations with the wider communications workforce in Britain.

Many facets of the above associations, strikes, negotiations and arbitration are covered in this class, including pre-amalgamation records, as well as material relating to the organisational structure and history of the UPW and the major controversies of the twentieth century including the UPW strike of 1971. For a full history see Alan Clinton 'The Post Office Workforce: A Trade Union and Social History' (London: Allen & Unwin, 1984). For Staff Associations and Union Publications see POST 115.

No further information available

No 1 Cornhill Club , professional association for insurers

Nirmul Committee, UK branch

Ninnis , Aubrey Howard , d 1956 , Antarctic explorer

Ningo , Herta , fl 1911-1973 , Jewish refugee

Nimarkoh , Virginia , fl 1999

Nightingale x Nightingale House (The Home for Aged Jews) The Home for Aged Jews

Nightingale (formerly known as Nightingale House and The Home for Aged Jews) was the largest Jewish residential and nursing home in Europe in 2001. As a non-profit making charitable organisation (Registered Charity Number 207316) the Home has been funded by a combination of private and state funding. Nightingale has always been run on Orthodox lines but has been supported by all sections of the Jewish community.

Origins: Nightingale had its origins in three charities, the Hand in Hand Asylum for Decayed Tradesmen (founded 1840), the Widows' Home Asylum (founded 1843) and the Jewish Workhouse also known as the Jewish Home (founded 1871). They were established in the old Jewish quarter in London's East End to cater for the needs of the Jewish poor.

The Poor Law system of workhouses did not embrace the social values, religious and dietary needs of poor members of the Jewish community. Respect and care for the elderly has been a core priority in the teachings of Judaism. A major aim of these Charities therefore was to save aged Jews from starvation and exposure on the streets and from the Workhouse and find places for them where their needs were met.

The Hand in Hand Home occupied the following premises: 5 Duke's Place (from 1843), 22 Jewry Street (from 1850), Wellclose Square (from 1854) and 23 Well Street, Hackney (from 1878). The Widow's Home was first based at 22 Mitre Street, then 19 Duke Street (from 1850), 67 Great Prescott Street, Goodmans Fields (from 1857) and later moved next door to the Hand in Hand in 1880.

The Jewish Workhouse was founded in 1871 by a movement led by Solomon Green, the son of Abraham Green one of the founders of the Widow's Home. The first premises were at 123 Wentworth Street. In 1876 the Home moved to 37-9 Stepney Green.

In 1894, these charities amalgamated as The Home for Aged Jews. In 1896 the combined Homes were based at 23 and 25 Well Street, Hackney and 37 and 39 Stepney Green. Two Medical Officers, a Master and two Matrons cared for 105 residents and were managed by a General Committee, House Committee, Finance Committee, Investigating Committee and Ladies' Committee.

In 1907 The Home for Aged Jews moved to 'Ferndale', Nightingale Lane, Wandsworth Common. The premises had been gifted by Sydney James Stern, Lord Wandsworth, an assimilated English Jew in 1904.

Aims: In 1896, the aims were: 'to provide a Home for, maintain and clothe aged, respectable and indigent persons of the Jewish Religion, who shall have attained the age of 60 years, and shall have been resident in England for at least seven years.'

In 2004 the aims have not changed significantly: 'to relieve persons of the Jewish faith who are not less than 60 years of age and are in need, by providing housing and items, services or facilities calculated to reduce the need of such persons, including special care in cases of infirmity'.

Changing roles: In the early 20th century, the work of the Home moved away from direct rescue work and the alleviation of poverty carried out by the former Charities, to a greater emphasis on care and the improvement of the quality of life for its residents.

Developments were made in care despite continued financial difficulties with annual deficits and falling numbers of subscriptions. Funds for the Home were increasingly augmented by valuable sources of income from collections made by Aid Societies such as the Ezra Society, takings from local cinema screenings and fundraising activities such as bazaars. The introduction of Welfare State legislation and pensions contributed greatly to the Home's income and increasing focus on care.

In-house eye care, ear and dental care facilities were introduced by 1924. In 1949 an Occupational Therapy Department was established in line with contemporary thinking on care for the elderly providing a wide range of activities such as basket weaving and needlework. From the 1950s, residents were increasingly encouraged to participate in activities and a regular programme of social events was provided. By the 1960s the Medical Staff consisted of a Matron, deputy Matron, 12 qualified staff and 30 state enrolled Nurses and Orderlies. The mid 1960s saw relaxations in Orthodox religious restrictions with the introduction of visiting hours on Sabbaths and festivals, and the abolition of compulsory wearing kippot (skull caps) and attendance at religious services.

The Community Care Act 1993 had major implications for the Home. Tha Act encouraged potential residents to continue at their own homes for longer. As a result, residents on their admission to the Home were much frailer and dependent requiring greater levels of nursing and paramedical staff. The average age of residents in 2001 was 88 years.

The later half of 20th century saw major building projects with expansion and modernisation of the site. These included: the building of Asher Corren Wing (1957), Gerald Lipton Centre (2001, formerly the Red Brick Extension opened 1976), Birchlands (formerly occupied by the Jewish Home of Rest) (1980), Jessie and Alfred Cope Wing (redeveloped in 1992), David Clore Art and Craft Centre (1986) and Balint Wing (1987).

In 1960s The Home for Aged Jews became Nightingale House (The Home for Aged Jews). Address: 105 Nightingale Lane, Wandsworth LB. From 1997 the Home was renamed as Nightingale.

In 2001 there were 300 residents. Residential and nursing home facilities included a comprehensive leisure service programme, an Art and Craft Centre, special facilities for those residents with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia with a reminiscence centre, multi-sensory room, on-site physiotherapy, pharmacy and dental surgery and occupational therapy services, synagogue, coffee shop, hairdressing salon, landscaped gardens, general shop and kosher food service.

Nightingale's goal in the 21st century was to provide loving care and enable residents to experience a 'wonderful quality of life' - whereby they could 'find a new lease of life and whole host of new activities, hobbies and friends'.

Nightingale Training School , St Thomas's Hospital

On Nov. 9th, 1855 a public meeting was held in Willis's Rooms, King Street, St James to inaugurate a public subscription in gratitude for Florence Nightingale's work in the Crimean War. £44,000 was raised, a committee was set up to administer this fund, and on March 13th 1860, A. H. Clough wrote on behalf of the Nightingale Fund Council to the President, Treasurer and Governors of Saint Thomas' Hospital about the possibility of founding a training school for nurses at the hospital. This was Florence Nightingale's idea as to how the fund could best be used. She was particularly attracted to Saint Thomas' Hospital because Mrs Wardroper, the Matron, had already initiated a programme of reform in 1855. Mrs Wardroper became the first Superintendant of the Training School, remaining at the hospital until 1887 and it was largely due to her efforts that the school was such a success in the early years.

The first fifteen Probationers arrived on July 9th 1860. They were paid a salary of £10 during the one year's course, with board and lodging provided. At the end of the year, if they were approved, they were entered on the Register of Certified Nurses, and employment was found for them. If they stayed in employment for a complete year after their training they could earn gratuities of £3 and £5. Instruction during the course was mainly practical, with the Probationers working in the hospital wards under close supervision. Considerable emphasis was placed on high moral character. From 1867 there were two classes of entry to the school: 1) Ordinary Probationers, who entered on the basis of a small salary and free board, as above and 2) Lady Probationers or Special probationers. These were trained specially for posts as Superintendents and Matrons of other institutions on completion of their training. They paid a sum of £30 for the year's tuition, and board and lodging.

One of the particular features of the Nightingale Training School was that nurses were trained not merely for Saint Thomas' Hospital, but with the clear intention that they be sent out in groups to other institutions to undertake nursing reform. The school had only been open two years when the first group went to Liverpool Royal Infirmary, and subsequent groups went as far as Canada and Australia, as well as to many British hospitals.

Another important and distinctive feature of the Nightingale system was that the Probationers were provided with board and lodging. When the new hospital opened in Lambeth in 1871, special provision was made for the Nightingale Home. In 1872, a Home Sister was appointed for the first time. She undertook part of the tuition, a Sister Tutor not being appointed until 1913. In 1937 Riddell House was opened as a new Nurses' Home, a present to Saint Thomas' Hospital and the Nightingale Training School by Lady Riddell, as a memorial to Lord Riddell.

Nightingale Training School , St Thomas's Hospital

After the death of Florence Nightingale in August 1910, her executors gathered together her papers and borrowed other letters and papers from many of her correspondents to assist Sir Edward Cook to write her biography. This was published in two volumes in 1913. Shortly afterwards the Matron of Saint Thomas' Hospital, Miss Alicia Lloyd Still, started to collect letters, papers, books, photographs, prints and all manner of objects associated with Florence Nightingale and the early years of the Nightingale School with the intention of forming a museum.

The principal benefactors and donors to the collection included Louis Shore Nightingale, Rosalind Vaughan Nash, and Barbara, Lady Stephen, who were the children of Florence Nightingale's cousin, William Shore Nightingale. Joanna Bonham Carter gave the papers of her father, Henry Bonham Carter, to the Nightingale School. Lord Riddell, whose wife had trained as a nurse at Saint Thomas' Hospital, purchased many letters written by Florence Nightingale, which he gave to the collection. Relatives of Angelique Lucille Pringle, Rachel Williams, Sir John McNeil, Lady Makins, Elizabeth Bosanquet, Helen and Jessie Blower, Mary Cadbury and many others donated valuable collections of documents and books. A room in the Nightingale Home served as a temporary museum. Other prints and photographs were displayed on the walls of Matron's office and in rooms in the Nightingale Home.

During the Second World War Saint Thomas' Hospital was badly damaged by bombing. The Nightingale Home was destroyed by a flying bomb in 1944. Florence Nightingale's Crimean carriage was seriously damaged in an earlier air raid in 1940, but was restored. Fortunately most of the Nightingale Collection was stored in Riddell House, which escaped the bombing. Acquisitions to the Nightingale Collection continued to be received both during and after the War. In 1960 Miss E. M. McInnes, Saint Thomas' Hospital archivist, organised a major exhibition to commemorate the centenary of the founding of the Nightingale School.

In 1967 the Board of Governors of Saint Thomas' Hospital decided to transfer the archives of the Hospital to the Greater London Record Office. In 1968 the archives of the Nightingale School and most of the documentary and photographic material from the Nightingale Collection were also deposited at the Greater London Record Office. In the early 1980's an appeal was launched to raise money to establish a museum on the lower ground floor of the new Nightingale School building at Saint Thomas' Hospital. The Florence Nightingale Museum was opened by HRH Princess Alexandra on 4 February 1989. Here many personal items formally belonging to Florence Nightingale, clothing, furniture, books, letters, portraits, photographs and Crimean relics have been placed on public display in a museum devoted to her life and the many aspects of her work.

Nightingale Lane Congregational Church, East Smithfield

Nightingale Fund Council

On Nov. 9th, 1855 a public meeting was held in Willis's Rooms, King Street, St James to inaugurate a public subscription in gratitude for Florence Nightingale's work in the Crimean War. £44,000 was raised, the Nightingale Fund Council was set up to administer this fund, and on March 13th 1860, A. H. Clough wrote on behalf of the Nightingale Fund Council to the President, Treasurer and Governors of Saint Thomas' Hospital about the possibility of founding a training school for nurses at the hospital. This was Florence Nightingale's idea as to how the fund could best be used.

The first fifteen Probationers arrived on July 9th 1860. They were paid a salary of £10 during the one year's course, with board and lodging provided. At the end of the year, if they were approved, they were entered on the Register of Certified Nurses, and employment was found for them. If they stayed in employment for a complete year after their training they could earn gratuities of £3 and £5. Instruction during the course was mainly practical, with the Probationers working in the hospital wards under close supervision. Considerable emphasis was placed on high moral character. From 1867 there were two classes of entry to the school: 1) Ordinary Probationers, who entered on the basis of a small salary and free board, as above and 2) Lady Probationers or Special probationers. These were trained specially for posts as Superintendents and Matrons of other institutions on completion of their training. They paid a sum of £30 for the year's tuition, and board and lodging.

One of the particular features of the Nightingale Training School was that nurses were trained not merely for Saint Thomas' Hospital, but with the clear intention that they be sent out in groups to other institutions to undertake nursing reform. The school had only been open two years when the first group went to Liverpool Royal Infirmary, and subsequent groups went as far as Canada and Australia, as well as to many British hospitals.

Nightingale Florence, 1820 - 1910, reformer of hospital nursing

Nightingale and Guy's College of Nursing and Midwifery , 1991-1992 Nightingale and Guy's College of Health , 1992-1993

Nightingale , Florence , 1820-1910 , reformer of hospital nursing

Florence Nightingale was born Villia Columbia, Florence, in 1820. She lived in Embley Park, Hampshire and was educated by her father. She recorded in 1837, that 'God had called her to His service.' She became interested in the mystics and studied the lives of people such as St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross. She travelled to the religious community at Kaiserwerth-am- Rhein, where she saw the possibility of changing nursing by training suitably motivated women of any class. She published an anonymous account of the community, The Institution of Kaiserwort on the Rhine for the Practical Training of Deaconesses, (1851). On her return to England she continued her interest in nursing, and accepted the post of unpaid superintendant to the Institute for Sick Governesses in Harley Street, London. She became an expert in hospital administration, demanding improvements in facilities, and insisting that Roman Catholics be admitted as patients. She assisted in the cholera epidemic in Soho, in 1851. When the Crimean War broke out in 1854, Sidney Herbert, Secretary of State at War, wrote to Nightingale asking her to take a party of nurses to Scutari, to help the neglected wounded. She took a party of 38 nurses to Scutari to assist at the 4 hospitals, in 1854, where she ensured conditions were improved. She used money from The Timesnewspaper to buy much needed equipment and improve hygiene. She insisted on attending to all the worst cases herself and made a point of visiting all the wards. Appalled by the inadequate feeding arrangements she persuaded Lord Panmure, Secretary of State for War to arrange for Alexis Soyer, Chef at the Reform Cub, to come out and organise the cooking. She proved a formidable administrator and organiser and her role at Scutari was as much that of a 'General Purveyor' as of a medical nurse. She collapsed with Crimean Fever (which she referred to as Typhus) in 1855. On her recovery she returned to Scutari to continue working. When news of her illness reached Britain there were prayers for her recovery and The Times referred to her as 'The Lady of the Lamp'. Many people made gifts to help her in her work, and raised £45,000. She returned to England after the war and set up a reform cabinet and established a highly effective relationship with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. She managed to establish a Royal Commission, with Sidney Herbert as chairman, in 1857, and published her report Notes on matters affecting the health, efficency and hospital administration of the British Army, in 1858. She was also made a member of the Statistical Society, in 1858. She became an invalid in 1858, but continued to work for the promotion of sanitary science, the collection of statistics, the design of hospitals, and reform of nursing and midwifery services. She campaigned for a pure water supply in 1861, and stressed the importance of irrigation and sanitary reform in India. She used part of the Nightingale Fund to finance an experimental training scheme for midwives at King's College Hospital. She assisted the Association for Improving Workhouse Infirmaries which eventually resulted in the Metropolitan Poor Law Act (1867). She used the Nightingale Fund to provide a training scheme for nurses based at the Highgate Poor Law Infirmary, and in 1881, for a team of Nightingale Nurses at the St Marylebone Institute, thus laying the foundations for training nurses in the new municipal hospitals after the Local Government Act (1888). She conducted a survey with Florence Lees in 1874, which resulted in the Report of the National Association for Providing Trained Nurses for the Sick Poor. In 1875 the Metropolitan and National Nursing Home was opened in Bloomsbury. She was the recipient of many honours including membership of the German Order of the Cross of Merit, and the French Secours aux Blesses Militaires. She became the first woman to be made a member of the Order of Merit, in 1907. She died in 1910.

Nightingale , Florence , 1820-1910 , nursing reformer

Nicoll, Mavistly and Company , solicitors

In 1086 Stanwell Manor was held by William fitz Other and in the time of King Edward it had belonged to Azor. The estate recorded in Domesday Book probably comprises most of the ancient parish except the manor of West Bedfont, which was already separate. In 1796 there were 539 acres copyhold of the manor, nearly all lying east of Stanwellmoor. By 1844 the lord of the manor owned Hammonds farm, Merricks farm (later known as Southern farm), and Park farm (later Stanhope farm), as well as about 84 acres around his house and a few other small areas. The manorial rights, house, and lands were separated in 1933.

William fitz Other, the Domesday tenant, was constable of Windsor castle and his descendants took the name of Windsor. They held Stanwell of Windsor castle for over four centuries, together with lands principally in Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. In 1485 Thomas Windsor left a widow, Elizabeth, who held Stanwell with her second husband Sir Robert Lytton. Thomas's son Andrew was summoned to parliament as Lord Windsor from 1529. The story of his loss of Stanwell has often been told: in spite of Windsor's previous favours from the Crown, Henry VIII compelled him in 1542 to surrender Stanwell in exchange for monastic lands in Gloucestershire and elsewhere. Sir Philip Hobby was made chief steward of the manor in 1545. Sir Thomas Paston was granted a 50-year lease during Edward VI's reign, and Edward Fitzgarret in 1588 secured a lease to run for 30 years from the end of Paston's term. In fact Fitzgarret was in possession when he died before 1590. His estate was much embarrassed and after litigation Stanwell passed to his son Garret subject to certain rent-charges to his daughter. In 1603 the freehold was granted to Sir Thomas Knyvett, who became Lord Knyvett in 1607. Knyvett and his wife both died in 1622, leaving their property to be shared between John Cary, the grandson of one of Knyvett's sisters, and Elizabeth Leigh, the granddaughter of another. Elizabeth married Sir Humphrey Tracy, and she and Cary held Stanwell jointly until her death. In 1678 the Knyvett estates were divided between Cary and Sir Francis Leigh, who was apparently Elizabeth's heir. Cary retained Stanwell, which he left to his great-niece Elizabeth Willoughby on condition that she married Lord Guildford; otherwise it was to pass to Lord Falkland. After Elizabeth's marriage to James Bertie she held the manor under a chancery decree until her death in 1715.

It then passed to Lucius Cary, Viscount Falkland (d. 1730), who sold it in 1720 to John, Earl of Dunmore (d. 1752). His trustees sold it in 1754 to Sir John Gibbons. It descended in the Gibbons family with the baronetcy until 1933, when the manorial rights were sold to H. Scott Freeman, clerk of Staines urban district council, who still held them in 1956.

Source: 'Stanwell: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 36-41 (available online).

Nicoll , T Vere , 1856-[1922] , surgeon

Nicholson and Sons Ltd , brewers

Nicholson , Thomas Tanner, Ltd, Dispensing Chemists, London, NW1

Nicholson , Reginald Popham , 1874-1950 , colonial administrator x Lobb , Reginald Popham

Nicholson , Max , 1904-2003 , ornithologist and conservationist

Nicholson's career was primarily in ornithology, natural conservation and questions of the relationship between development and the environment. These papers relate to his concern with issues of population. Carlos Paton Blacker and Nicholson were both founder members of the Simon Population Trust (founded 1957), but had already been in correspondence on matters relating to population and eugenics. Education at Sedbergh School, Cumbria 1920s; read history at Hertford College, Oxford; Birds In England, 1926, How Birds Live, 1927 1931 (As assistant editor of the Weekend Review) wrote supplement A National Plan For Britain; Created the British Trust for Ornithology, 1932; Songs Of Wild Birds (with gramaphone records). Produced with Ludwig Koch, 1937; helped found the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, 1938; Handbook Of British Birds (helped H F Witherby), 1938-1941; Joined the civil service heading the allocation of tonnage division at the Ministry of War Transport, 1940; In 1945 given a post in the Deputy Prime Minister's office, which led to him chairing the committee for the 1951 Festival of Britain; with Julian Huxley (the then Director General of the United Nations scientific and education organisation Unesco) involved in forming the Scientific International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) now the World Conservation Union, 1947-1948; setting up of the Nature Conservancy, 1949; contracted polio whilst leader of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation survey team in Baluchistan, 1952; Director-general of the Nature Conservancy, 1952-1966; Instrumental in setting up the Council For Nature, 1958; helped found the Conservation Corps (the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) and to develop the Wildlife Trusts Movement, 1959; with Peter Scott and others, helped create the World Wildlife Fund, 1961; convenor for conservation of the International Biological Programme, 1963-1974; wroteThe System, 1967; The Environmental Revolution, 1970; initiated what is now the Trust for Urban Ecology, 1977; The Birds of the Western Palearctic, 1977-1994; President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, 1980-1985; Trustee of Earthwatch Europe, 1985-1993; created The New Renaissance Group, 1994. Also founder member and chairman of Common Ground International, Head of the world conservation section of the International Biological Programme. Had three sons: Piers, Tom (by first wife Mary Crawford) and David (by second wife Toni).

Nicholson , Marjorie , 1914-1997 , trade unionist

Nicholson , John Leonard , 1916-1990 , statistician

Nicholson , Jesse , fl 1933-1939 , teacher

Nicholson , Edward Max , 1904-2003 , ornithologist and environmentalist